From: jools	Date: January 21st, 2011 12:43 am (UTC)		(Link)

Jools was stashed in a corner she claimed with two comfortable chairs and a low table set between them. She made sure to grab this spot, doing some studying of her own before Lisette arrived.

She noticed the girl's arrival and beckoned her over with a simple hand wave. Once she was settled it was straight to business. "What are you working on for your test?"

	From: voodoo_maman	Date: January 22nd, 2011 12:58 am (UTC)		(Link)

Lisette smiled and headed toward Jools. She dropped herself into the chair across from the other girl and pushed her book onto the table. She pulled her wand out of her pocket and set it on the table, too.

"Hey, how's it going?" She pulled the book open and pointed to her lesson. "We're supposed to conjur water." She reached into her backpack and pulled out a bowl. "I brought this just in case. Don't need water all over the place, huh?" It was likely to happen anyway, but she found it easier to clean up water than to conjur it.

	From: jools	Date: January 22nd, 2011 01:28 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Not bad," Jools replied quickly. "Water, huh?" She gave a confident nod and proceeded to charm their books and the surrounding area to be waterproof. "Can't be bothered to practice this one in the bathroom," she explained. It was a lot easier than explaining why she couldn't go in the common girls bathroom.

"We can start by keeping your wand tip inside the mouth of the bowl. If you get really good you can conjure it without having it pour out of your wand like a faucet, but that's when it gets messier."

She opened her old charms notebook to the right page and peered over her notes. She didn't use this charm enough to know it by heart like the waterproof charm (which turned out to be more handy than she first thought).

She pointed her wand into the bowl, recited the charm and gestured. A thin spout of water poured merrily from her wand.

	From: voodoo_maman	Date: January 22nd, 2011 04:37 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"I might have thought of that, but this is as good a place as any if you're waterproofing stuff." She smiled slightly and watched Jools get down to business. She paid strict attention to the way the other girl recited the charm and made the gesture. She nodded and then siphoned the water Jools had conjured out of the bowl.

She took a deep breath, read over the charm and then tried to repeat what Jools had done so effortlessly. Rather than pouring merrily out of the tip of her wand, the water sprayed in all directions. She shook her wand to make it stop but the damage was already done. She was sprayed and her books and most of the other stuff on the table was beaded with water, too. It was really a good thing Jools had thought to waterproof it all.

She sighed and glanced over at the other girl. "So, what did I do wrong?"

	From: jools	Date: January 26th, 2011 06:03 am (UTC)		(Link)

Jools watched closely. The gesture seemed fine. It was probably a problem of intent. Jools figured that she wanted it to work too much. It was probably the case given that she had to ace it on the test tomorrow.

She siphoned up the beads of water that sat along the surfaces and thought of the best way to word her reply.

"Your charm looks fine," she commented kindly. Compliments helped when mastering a new spell. "I think it's your intent. A little too much power, too much desire. Try pulling back a bit."

	From: voodoo_maman	Date: February 3rd, 2011 02:29 am (UTC)		(Link)

Lisette's dark eyes roamed over Jools' face as the girl gave her pointers. She nodded. She did want it pretty bad. She felt inept when it came to Transfiguration so she could see where she might be overreaching.

She took a deep breath and concentrated on the end of her wand where the water would be conjured. She let out a breath and then spoke the charm again. After a second or two, a drop beaded at the end of her wand and dripped into the bowl. It was followed shortly by another, but it was clear that she had pulled back a little too much.

"Oh, my God. I'm never going to get this."

	From: jools	Date: February 5th, 2011 11:12 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"You will," Jools asserted firmly. She tried to think of a good metaphor to explain what she thought was happening. "I think you started out at a 10. You dialed it down to a 2. This spell works best around 4."

She closed her eyes and concentrated on pulling herself far back and spoke the charm to show Lisette what it would look like when the desire was missing. A single drop formed on the end of her wand, slipping off and plopping onto the table. "That was a 1 and a half," she said with a little nod.

	From: voodoo_maman	Date: February 8th, 2011 01:39 am (UTC)		(Link)

"Okay, so somewhere around a four. Right." She took a deep breath and tapped her fingers on the table. Blowing out her breath, she lifted her wand and held it over the bowl again.

She gave it more oomph this time, but not as much as she had the first time. The water trickled from the tip of her wand in a steady stream and her dark eyes widened.

She laughed and glanced up at Jools. "Ha! I did it."

	From: jools	Date: February 9th, 2011 01:26 am (UTC)		(Link)

Jools watched and grinned when Lisette succeeded. It felt good to help someone and Lisette's laugh was more than a little contagious. "You absolutely did." Jools grinned. "Now do it again," she challenged. Consistency was important when trying to repeat a spell.

	From: voodoo_maman	Date: February 11th, 2011 05:04 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Lisette lifted her gaze to Jool's again and she watched her for just a moment. This girl was helping her for no other reason that to be helpful and Lisette was grateful. She might actually have a chance of passing her test tomorrow thanks to Jools' coaching. "Okay."

She lifted her wand once more, tried to recall the state of mind she'd been in a moment before and spoke the charm. She might have put it more around a five this time, but it was nothing like the ten of earlier. The water poured into the bowl and Lisette grinned. "I might actually pass that test tomrorrow."

"Thank you, Jools."

	From: jools	Date: February 19th, 2011 06:27 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"You will pass," Jools assured, if only to prove that Jools was an excellent tutor.

She hand waved the compliment. "It's nothing to help a friend," she said quietly. It was about as close as she ever got to confirming a friendship with anyone.

"Was there anything else you needed to brush up?"